"Advertising for the now defunct People Express Airlines said it best in 1981, 'You pay only for baggage you want to check, drinks you want to drink, and the snacks you want to snack,'" said Jay Sorensen, author of the report from IdeaWorks Co., a Wisconsin aviation consulting firm.

"Gone forever are the days when a single price described the all-inclusive fare between two cities. Consumers now begin the booking experience with a shopping cart into which they add services and products to the base product of an airline seat."

"If I'm taking a quick day trip to Detroit or Chicago and don't have any bags, why should I be paying for bags?" he asked.

Even though it doesn't cost the airline more to give someone a roomier aisle seat near the front of the plane, charging $20 for that seat "is providing greater value to someone who's willing to pay for it," Taneja said.

It's the same principle behind pricing premium seats at the theater more than less-desirable seats, or luxury cars more than no-frills models, he said.

Sorensen's report argues that:

Airlines need the money the fees generate. The global airline industry has lost $36.7 billion over the last decade, while profit margins have ranged from 2.9 percent to negative 4.6 percent.

While the average cost of a roundtrip flight in 2010 was $523.98, the average ticket price was $422.50.

And because baggage fees add only about $13.42 to that cost, the average loss to the airline, per passenger transported, was $88.06.

Janice Hough, a travel agent for All Horizons Travel in Los Altos, Calif., and a travel writer for ConsumerTraveler.com, notes that some fees are more optional than others.

"Fuel surcharges, for example, are mandatory," she said.

"Also baggage service may have improved but the boarding process has not, as everyone now tries to carry on their bags and jams the boarding area to get on early enough to get room for them" in the limited overhead bins.

Consumers can tailor the price of their trip according to what they most value.

Although Frontier Airlines used to provide steak and lobster meals between Denver and Dallas before 1978, the cost of serving those meals was folded into the price of the ticket.

But U.S. airlines kept squeezing how much they spent on in-flight meals until by 2003, their per-passenger cost was an average of $2.13 for what amounted to a not-very-substantial snack.

Now that on-board food costs money, only a small percentage of fliers actually buy it.

The same thing happened with baggage.

When passengers have to pay to check bags, they not only check 40 percent to 50 percent fewer bags, they travel lighter overall. And that saves the airline in baggage weight and handling services.

"A la carte pricing lets travelers pick and choose exactly what they want when they fly, and that's a good thing," he said.

"If someone without a bag to check flies Southwest, they are still paying the same amount as someone who does check a bag even though the latter person is getting more for the money. With other airlines, you get what you pay for, and that's a good thing."

Services that consumers pay for are often better than services they get for free. Ever since baggage fees were introduced, "baggage service has improved considerably," the report said. "By charging fees, once neglected baggage service departments have become star revenue performers for airlines" that generates millions in revenue."

In the three months after baggage fees were introduced, the frequency of lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered bags dropped by more than half, compared to the three months before the fees.

Rahsaan Johnson, spokesman for United Airlines out of Chicago, said customers miss the idea of a free ham or turkey sandwich more than the actual snack.

Now that the merged airline offers a menu of snacks, from M&M pretzel candies to hot angus cheeseburgers (depending on the flight), the people who want those snacks can get them.

When the airline surveys passengers about their flight, asking them to rank it on a scale of 1 to 5, "customers who choose to pay for the extra legroom seating or who bought the meal option were more likely to give us 5s," he said.

The ones who pay for extras they want, "they remember having a better overall experience."

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